Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,748,122 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 194,888 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $119,131,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth approximately $366,959,000. Amundi boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 27,635,497 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,046,280,000 after acquiring an additional 6,054,537 shares during the last quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2,140.8% during the 1st quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 5,929,623 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $224,496,000 after acquiring an additional 5,665,000 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,421,549,000 after purchasing an additional 5,661,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Cayman LP bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter worth about $159,147,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.01.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $39.78 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.63. The stock has a market cap of $57.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $49.12.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 7.97%.The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.13%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.